Am­trak en­gi­neer cleared in deadly 2015 crash Elec­tri­fy­ing view

PHILADEL­PHIA— A judge on Tues­day dis­missed crim­i­nal charges against the en­gi­neer in an Am­trak derail­ment in Philadel­phia that killed eight peo­ple, cit­ing a lack of ev­i­dence in a case that pros­e­cu­tors ini­tially re­fused to pur­sue.

Bran­don Bos­tian, 34, had faced charges that in­cluded in­vol­un­tary man­slaugh­ter and reck­less en­dan­ger­ment af­ter his Wash­ing­ton-to-New York train rounded a curve at more than twice the speed limit in May 2015 and flew off the tracks in a vi­o­lent derail­ment that crum­pled cars and flung pas­sen­gers into the woods. About 200 peo­ple were hurt.

Light­ning il­lu­mi­nates the sky over San Francisco on Mon­day, when thun­der­storms de­layed dozens of flights and stalled the start of a Ma­jor League Base­ball game be­tween the San Francisco Gi­ants and the Los An­ge­les Dodgers.